Disclaimer: I own nothing related to True Blood.
When Paige finally returned to her room and threw herself into bed, she didn't get even a wink of sleep. For hours she tossed and turned, but Eric's voice and his piercing words constantly circled around in her mind until she could take it no longer, gave up, and decided to go for a long, hopefully head-clearing run around the hotel grounds. But even after a grueling workout she was still wide awake and equally as fitful, and the rest of the night was spent pouring over notes on the Fellowship and examining the maps of the church grounds to try and occupy herself. It would have been nice to get some rest since they were going to have a busy day the next day, but since that seemed an impossible feat she decided to at least be productive if she was going to be awake – admittedly, staying up all night long was not as uncommon to her as one might think; at one point in her life it hadn't been abnormal for her to stay up all night long with Eric then, once the sun was starting to come up and it was time for him to rest, go about her day as usual (with the help of copious amounts of caffeine, of course).
Paige tried with all of her might to throw herself into her work, did her best not to let her thoughts wander as she worked, but no matter how hard she tried to focus it seemed Eric and his cruel words from earlier were all she could think about. I no longer care what you do with your time, Ms. Collins. Once our task is complete, I do not wish to ever see you again. Like a broken record these two sentences replayed in her head, taunting her, teasing her, hurting her. She'd already suspected that would be the case, but knowing with all certainty that he actually despised her cut very deep. At one point in time they had loved each other unconditionally, had been happy together and had had hope for a future together...those days were long gone now. I no longer care…I do not wish to ever see you again…
How was she supposed to face Eric and work with him knowing how much he hated her? It had taken everything in her not to break down and sob the first time he'd said such cruel things – if he said something like that to her again, she knew it would destroy what was left of her mangled heart. Once our task is complete, I do not wish to ever see you again…ever, Ever, EVER!
As Eric's voice echoed in her ears one last time, Paige let out a heave of frustration and roughly slid away the notes she'd been taking before dropping her head into her hands. After a few calming breaths she moved her hands to rub at her eyes then let them fall tiredly to her sides – this was not the time to lose her head. She needed to pull herself together. There was a vampire to save and still a lot of work to be done; Paige couldn't afford to let herself be this distracted by her own personal problems, plain and simple.
"You okay?"
The sound of Gary's voice had Paige whirling around in surprise. She'd been so wrapped up in her own head that she hadn't even realized the sun had come up, let alone that Gary was awake and had come into her room.
"Yeah…" Paige answered with a jerky nod of her head. "Just…working, trying to get a plan together." She added, turning to hastily gather up her notes before Gary could get a good look at the bags that had to be under her eyes by now. "I think we'd be better off keeping a pretty loose perimeter during the day." Paige continued distractedly, pointing to various places on the map she'd just spread across the table as Gary came to stand next to her. "If we stick to these areas we'll still be close but not so close that our team will be easily spotted. I already touched base with Lance an hour or so ago, too – him and at least a dozen more guys will be in Dallas within the hour. Half will meet with us here at the hotel and the other half will head directly to the Fellowship to keep an eye on things until we get there."
Though she could feel Gary's questioning gaze on her, he merely nodded his head in understanding instead of voicing his inner thoughts. "Sounds like a good plan…" He told her in agreement.
Paige nodded her head, eyes still trained on the map. "I think I'll take a team out tonight, set up camp under the cover of darkness." She said, sounding as though she were talking more to herself than to Gary. "We'll do a quick search of the grounds and see if we can't find any signs of Godric – if we found him outside of the church that would be phenomenal…but that's a fat chance." Paige admitted with a huff. "Nothing is ever that easy..."
"Wait, wait, wait." Gary interrupted, finally making Paige turn her eyes up to him. "Tonight? I thought we were going in behind Sookie and Hugo when they leave tomorrow?" He then asked in confusion.
Paige just sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, well, plans change." She said matter-of-factly. "I think it's a better idea if we've got the place covered before they arrive. And the more acquainted we are with the church grounds, the easier it'll be to fight if it comes down to it." Then she said, "I'll go in tonight with a team and secure the area. Pick a few guys to stay behind with you and tail Sookie and Hugo tomorrow morning. Make sure they get into the Fellowship without any problems." Paige went on to instruct firmly, using a tone that ensured she was not to be argued with on the matter. "Once they're inside, we'll meet up and then play it by ear from there."
"Alright then…" Gary agreed after a moment of hesitation, not sounding entirely thrilled with the idea of splitting up.
Paige nodded to him in approval, even though she was pretty sure Gary knew her real reason for wanting to get things going ahead of schedule – she was looking for any reason to get out of the hotel and away from Eric before anything catastrophic could happen. Again, however, Gary chose not to say anything about it, for which she was very grateful. As silence stretched between them for a long few seconds, all of Paige's guilt from the previous night started rising up again. She felt absolutely horrible for the things she'd said to Gary and knew she needed to make amends.
Paige finally turned to face Gary fully and placed a gentle hand on his arm, allowing him to see the guilt in her eyes and painted on her face. "I'm really sorry about what I said last night, Gary." She told him, shamefaced. "I was completely out of line."
Gary raised a hand to silence her and then shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He told her with a small, close-lipped but still reassuring smile on his face. "I know all of this can't be easy on you…and I imagine I wouldn't handle it much better if I was in your shoes." Then he reached up to pat her hand. "There's nothing to forgive, P-Col."
Paige, immensely relieved that things were alright between her and her friend, smiled at him thankfully – in fact, so relieved was she now that one of her problems was solved that all her weariness, quite suddenly, caught up to her. A yawn escaped her lips before she could stop it and she raised a hand to cover her mouth while Gary looked on with raised eyebrows.
"You look like you've been through the ringer." He commented in obvious concern – he hunched over a little until they were eye-level, eyes inspecting her closely. "Is everything okay?"
Paige nodded quickly. "Of course." She told him, eyes turning away evasively. "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
"And by 'not a lot' you actually mean none, right?" Gary countered, one eyebrow shooting up knowingly. "Don't insult my intelligence, Collins – I know you better than you know yourself." He then said. "Now tell me what really happened."
"Fine…" Paige huffed with a roll of her eyes. "I went to get a drink with Sookie and kind of, sort of…bumped into Eric." She finally revealed. She didn't think it possible for Gary to look any more surprised than he did in that moment. "And let me just say that when it comes to me and my involvement with this investigation, Eric Northman is not a fan."
"What do you mean?" Gary demanded to know. "What did he say?"
"In a nutshell? That he doesn't give a rat's ass what I do with my time or my life and that he never wants to see me again after we've saved Godric." Paige told him in a rush, hoping that if she said the words quickly enough that it might somehow cushion the blow to her own heart – it didn't work.
Gary's jaw dropped. "Holy shit…" He said disbelievingly. Then he frowned in anger and said, "What a dick."
"Don't be too mad at him – I kinda had it coming." Paige admitted begrudgingly, rubbing her tired eyes. "Let's not talk about that anymore, alright?" She asked without looking at Gary, not feeling particularly up for reliving the painful interaction she'd had with her ex the previous night. "There's more important things to worry about."
Though Gary still seemed angry about the way Eric had treated her, he nodded his head in understanding. "Alright." Then, after a moment of pensiveness, he started rounding up the maps, making her frown in confusion. "I'm gonna look these over until the rest of the team gets here – the only thing you need to worry about right now is getting some sleep." He instructed, already heading towards the adjoining hotel room, arms laden with maps.
"Are you sure – ?" Paige started to ask.
"Sleep." He interrupted firmly. "You'll need the rest if you plan to camp out on the Fellowship grounds tonight. Besides, you're no use to us tired and cranky – you're just annoying as hell." He shot a smirk at her over his shoulder. While she mock-glared at him, he chuckled and walked into his room, pausing to glance back at her. "Sweet dreams." He finished, before kicking the door shut.
Now alone in her hotel room, Paige stared at the door separating her from Gary before shaking her head and trudging over to her bed. Without bothering to change her clothes she flopped onto the cool sheets face first, then wiggled around until she was comfortable. For a moment her mind raced with thoughts of everything that still needed to be done before the upcoming stakeout, but as her body finally began to relax her eyelids became harder and harder to keep up. Finally, they drooped shut as she succumbed to her exhaustion and fell asleep.
She was running as fast as she could, her heart pounding hard against her ribs as her legs burned with the strenuous effort. There was a figure in front of her and she was trying desperately to reach him, but every time her fingers almost caught hold of his clothing he would somehow manage to move out of reach. After chasing the figure for a while longer she realized he was familiar to her – long blonde hair, tall, broad frame, piercing blue eyes…
"Eric! Please!" Paige yelled desperately, reaching for him again but finding, as always, that he was just out of range.
This time he did something different. He circled around to face her, eyes dark and fangs exposed. Paige stopped quite suddenly, chest heaving as she gulped for air and eyes trained warily on him as he grasped her by the shoulders and yanked her close. While his eyes intently searched her face, his left hand slowly trailed along her cheek in a caress so gentle it had her eyelids fluttering. Paige gasped when his fingers tangled into her hair, tugging gently and angling her head back. She sighed as he pulled her closer, his nose sliding along her throat before brushing over her ear.
"Eric…" Paige said again, but this time it was a sigh of content.
She was just reaching up to caress the face she loved so much when, unexpectedly, he stopped her by wrapping rough fingers around her wrist. The expression on his face was nothing but hatred now, and she whimpered in pain as he yanked her wrist up behind her back none-too-gently, now restraining her.
He only said one word. "No."
Then Eric reared his head back, let out a harsh sounding snarl, and sank his fangs into her neck…
Paige sat up in bed with a start, her breath coming in quick pants and her body covered in a fine sheen of sweat. She looked around the dark room for a moment, feeling a little disoriented and not knowing entirely sure where she was, before it finally registered that she was in her hotel room. Paige sighed and buried her face into her hands, sucking in deep breaths through her nose to try and calm herself down – now she was having dreams about Eric, too? What, was she not being tortured enough in day-to-day life already?
Paige let out a heave and firmly pushed the disturbing dream of Eric out of her mind. She looked at the clock, saw that it was almost eleven at night, then slowly dragged herself out of bed. Her body felt heavy and achy after her long, fitful sleep, and she paused once she was on her feet to work out some of the kinks in her back and neck. Paige then headed to her suitcase to collect her clothes for the stakeout – a fitted pair of camouflage pants, a black, short-sleeved undershirt, and a matching, fitted, camouflage jacket. Once she was dressed, had pulled on her boots, and secured her hair into a pony tail, Paige grabbed the small bag containing her guns and ammunition and then headed towards the door leading into Gary's room. Just as she was about to open the door, however, she stopped.
There was an argument taking place in Gary's room at that exact moment, and it was about her.
"She's going alone?" A voice growled angrily.
She would have recognized that voice anywhere – it was Eric. Now curious, Paige pressed her ear to the door so as to listen better.
"No, not alone. Just not with the whole team." Another voice countered – Gary. "Paige is gonna take some guys with her and survey the grounds until morning, just as I said." He went on to explain, enunciating his words very precisely as though he were talking to a small child that just didn't understand what he was trying to convey. "No one's gonna be in danger tonight – it's just recon, nothing more."
"This is absolutely absurd." Eric stated in disbelief. "You would let a woman put her life at risk while you hide in the safety of your hotel room and twiddle your thumbs?"
"It was her decision, not mine." Gary snapped back, sounding like he was starting to lose his patience. "Look, I called this meeting so we could all hear the plan and be on the same page before they head out, not so you could bitch and complain about the way we do things in our own organization." Gary's bold statement was answered by a growl of warning. There was a moment of uproar where a few others in the room tried to jump in and diffuse the situation, but they all fell silent when Gary spoke again. "You can try to intimidate me all you want, man, but at the end of the day this was all Paige's plan – if you have concerns about her decision making or her safety, take it up with her."
When Eric started to argue back, Paige finally decided to let her presence be known – she pushed the door open, making everyone in the room immediately fall silent as every set of eyes in the room landed on her.
Directly in front of her, standing right in the middle of the room and only separated by a table with maps and notes strewn across it, was Gary and Eric. They were both partially leaning over the table and their faces weren't very far from one another; the similar looks of irritation on both their faces were undoubtedly due to the argument they'd just been not-so-quietly having. Sookie, Bill, Isabel, and Stan were also present while a half dozen men dressed identical to Paige where stationed in various parts of the hotel room – as a whole, everyone that had been witnessing the argument looked rather uncomfortable.
"Evening everyone." Paige said in greeting, setting her bag down on a chair and acting as though nothing were amiss. When her eyes met Eric's he straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest, anger and disapproval burning in his gaze. She quickly shifted her attention over to Gary so she wouldn't have to bear the brunt of that look. "Everything alright here?"
"Perfectly fine." Gary answered with a nod before reaching into a nearby duffle, pulling out a small, dark case, and tossing it to her. Paige opened the case and fished out the throat microphone inside, diligently ignoring the way Eric was watching her as she fastened the equipment around her neck and then produced a small earpiece, securing it in her right ear. "Check it, make sure it's good." Gary instructed before he started rolling up some maps.
Paige reached up to press a small button next to her throat. "Check, check." After she received a thumbs up from their equipment tech, she nodded and then walked over to Isabel and Stan. "I'm assuming Gary explained what's going on tonight?" Paige asked with raised eyebrows, coming to a stop in front of the two vampires.
"Yes, everything." Isabel said with a nod, now regarding Paige and her team with what seemed like a new appreciation. "We did not realize how coordinated your organization was. Nor so...militarized." She admitted, motioning towards all of the team members as they prepared their equipment.
Paige just smiled and shrugged a shoulder. "For the most part the C.A.V.D. is all friendly faces and smooth talkers," she explained to the vampire. "But in extreme circumstances - like this one - it takes more than a bright smile and firm handshake to get the job done. That's when they call us in."
Isabel made a sound of understanding. "I must admit…I am quite impressed." She complimented with a tiny smirk, which immediately made Stan scoff and roll his eyes.
Paige chose to ignore the vampire's distaste. "Thank you, Isabel," Paige said politely before turning towards Sookie next. The blonde blatantly looked back and forth between Paige and Eric, eyes a bit wide. "When do you plan on arriving tomorrow?" She asked, ignoring her conspicuous behavior.
"We…we were thinking around noon." Sookie informed her, though Paige couldn't help but notice when the blonde shot one last quick glance in Eric's direction.
"Okay." Paige said with a nod. "Just…act normal and stay relaxed when you're inside." She instructed gently. "Gary will be right behind you guys and I'm already gonna be on the church grounds, so if for any reason you run into trouble just know that both of us will be nearby to bail you out, alright? We won't let anything happen to either of you."
Sookie offered Paige a relieved smile and nodded her head in understanding. After that Gary began to brief the team that would be leaving with Paige, while Isabel and Stan, after wishing Paige and Gary and the rest of the team good luck (Isabel did, anyway; Stan merely glared at anyone that made eye-contact with him), made for the exit and left to tend to their own affairs. Paige, who could still feel Eric's eyes on her, started to turn to face him but stopped when Sookie stepped in close and clasped Paige's hands within her own.
"You be careful, too, okay?" She instructed, looking a little concerned.
"Don't worry, I've done this before – I know how to take care of myself." Paige said with a quick, reassuring smile. Sookie nodded then pulled her into a tight hug – Paige was frozen with surprise but finally returned the hug, patting Sookie on the back awkwardly. "There's no need to get all sentimental on me…" She teased.
Sookie laughed as she pulled away from Paige and swatted her shoulder. "Smartass." She said, making Paige chuckle. "Good luck, Gary, guys." She then said before motioning for Bill to follow her towards the exit. "We'll let ya'll finish gettin' ready and meet you outside."
Paige nodded, but then turned towards Bill when he paused in front of her. "Thank you for keeping an eye on her. It eases my worries to know she'll be protected." He said in a bit of a gruff voice, though the expression on his face was a grateful one.
"Of course." Paige said in response.
And with that Bill and Sookie left, but not before shooting a look in the direction of the only vampire lingering behind – Eric. As the door closed behind Bill and Sookie's departing backs, Paige finally turned around and faced him, unsurprised to see that he hadn't budged even an inch and was watching her with unblinking eyes. He didn't say anything though, so Paige started moving about the room and collecting her things. Several of the team members were glancing back and forth between the former couple while they loaded themselves up with guns, ammunition, and supplies, but no one seemed brave enough to say anything yet – none of them knew that Paige and Eric had formerly been involved, but they could obviously sense that there was something lingering between the two. Finally, when Paige could stand the uncomfortable silence no longer, she crossed her arms and turned a look on Eric.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Northman?" Paige asked as patiently as she could.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, there is." He responded at once, as though he'd had an argument hanging on the tip of his tongue the entire time but had been waiting for the opportune moment to unleash it. "I do not approve of you proceeding to the church grounds without the entirety of your team. By splitting up your forces you will make yourself weaker and more vulnerable – it would be much wiser to keep your team wholly intact."
All of this had been said in an eerily calm voice, but the fire of anger and irritation burning in his eyes wasn't fooling her – he was mad and she knew it.
"We'll be perfectly fine." Paige immediately countered. "It's not like we're gonna go storming into the church to shoot the place up. We're just watching the grounds and trying to see if we can get any leads on Godric's whereabouts." She then explained before heading over to the bag she'd left on the chair and unzipping it with a bit more force than necessary, happy to search for the items she needed inside if it meant not having to meet his gaze. "I would actually think this plan would be ideal considering the only thing you care about is getting Godric back as quickly as possible, remember?" Paige couldn't help but shoot at him with open bitterness, not taking much time to consider the effect her words might have.
Before she knew it, Eric had grabbed her by the shoulders and whipped her around to face him. The team behind her jumped to attention as she stared up at him with wide, surprised eyes, but Gary quickly motioned for them to back off.
"How dare you act this way now! What right do you have to be angry with me after what you did?" He demanded to know, his jaw grinding with barely concealed rage. He was so angry that he didn't seem to care that they were being watched by a half-dozen confused men. "You think me selfish? You think me cold-hearted? Well, I think you a hypocrite." He growled through clenched teeth, anger and hatred practically oozing off of him. "My heart may not have been beating for the past thousand years, but at least I can say that I understand what it is to be loyal and honest to the ones I care for, Paige – can you?"
Paige looked up at him in stunned silence, not only able to see the furious storm raging in his eyes but also the hurt shining through clear as day. After she and Eric had broken up she had thought that would be it, that they would never even see one another again let alone discuss – or even acknowledge – what had happened between them. But here he was allowing her to see all of the hurt and anger and betrayal that she had made him feel, allowing her to see just how much damage had been done. She was glad when Gary suddenly ushered the rest of their team out of the hotel room to give them privacy, because Eric (though he would have never admitted it) was looking uncharacteristically vulnerable in that moment; Paige had thought she already hated herself as much as any person could possibly hate themselves…she had just been proven wrong.
"Eric…" She started slowly once they were alone in the hotel room, looking to him with sorrowful eyes – he hadn't released the hold on her shoulders yet, simply was staring down at her with that intent gaze as though daring her to see what happened if she argued back. "There are some…things…that you have to understand…" She started to say slowly, wondering if the chance to explain herself was finally upon her.
"There is nothing for me to know that has not already been said." He growled back, pushing her away from him with just enough force to have her stumbling back but not falling down. Even now in all of his rage Paige knew he would never do anything to physically hurt her. "You made yourself very clear when you ended our relationship. Nothing more needs to be said on the matter."
"Eric –" Paige tried again.
"Enough!" He roared, making her jump.
Paige, unable to keep up with Eric's swift mood swings – one minute it seemed as though he were demanding answers from her, the next he didn't want to hear anything she had to say – suddenly felt incredibly frustrated, which quickly made her irritation grow. "Look, I don't have time for this right now." She finally said, frowning at him unhappily. "I came here to make sure that the assholes going around kidnapping sheriffs with the intent of murdering them is stopped – if you won't listen to what I have to say then get out of my way, because you're only keeping me from my job."
With that being said Paige tried to move around him so that she could finish preparing her things for the stakeout – she was absolutely not in the mood to argue with him when business was about to be underway, especially since she was already having enough trouble dealing with Eric as it was without adding a massive fight with him to her list of problems. But the tall vampire refused to let her pass, making her heave in annoyance as he merely continued to shoot daggers at her with his eyes.
"Do not pretend as though you care for me now, Paige Collins." Eric growled at her fiercely, his face only inches from hers.
Unable to bear the brunt of his spiteful glare any longer, Paige shook her head and shoved past him before stalking over to her bag and roughly ripping it open. Eric made no move to follow her but did turn to watch as she whipped out two gun holsters from her bag and fastened each of them around either of her thighs. As the deafening silence continued to stretch between them, where Eric watched her every move and where Paige's mind raced with all the things she wanted to say to him, she proceeded to retrieve her two handguns from the bag, make sure that they were loaded and that the safety was on, then shoved them into the holsters. After grabbing the utility belt that held all of her smaller weapons, as well as a few necessary supplies, Paige locked it around her waist – the last thing she snatched up was an army-style, short-billed, camouflage colored cap before finally turning to face Eric again.
They stared at each other in silence for a long few minutes. There was so much that needed to be explained, so much that she wanted, nay, needed to say to Eric to make him understand what had forced her to do the things she'd done. But judging by the way he had been treating her, Eric didn't seem to want to know the truth. Should she tell him anyway? Could she force him to listen? Paige had been able to make him listen in the past, but that was when he had still cared about her and actually valued her opinion; it wouldn't be so easy to make him hear her out now.
"Listen…" Paige finally said with a sigh, heart thudding against her ribs. "I do care about you, Eric…hell, I love you." She blurted out before she could stop herself – the moment these words were past her lips, Eric's hard expression dimmed a little bit and his eyes filled with surprise. "Trust me, I wouldn't be doing any of this if I didn't." She continued, surprised that he was letting her get so much off of her chest. "One day, perhaps, I'll get to explain to you why I had to do the things that I did, but just know that I do love you. That has never changed and it never, ever will."
And with that she turned and headed for the door. The small, optimistic, helpless-romantic side of her yearned for Eric to come running after her, prayed that he would stop her and say something – anything – to give her hope that things between them could be repaired…but the rest of her, the logical side, knew he wouldn't. He not only had too much pride to do something like that, but she had wronged him. And Eric was not a forgiving creature when he felt betrayed.
The instant Paige was out of the hotel room she shut the door and leaned back against it, closing her eyes and sucking in a calming breath. Luckily the hallway was empty and there was no one around to see her shoulders sag with defeat as she dropped her face into her hands.
She couldn't believe she'd just told Eric that she still loved him – it was true, of course, but still…what had she been thinking putting herself out there like that? Was she a masochist or something?
Paige took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, counting backwards from ten in her mind. She needed to focus – now wasn't the time to be fretting over Eric, especially so seeing as she was about to be walking right into the lion's den. Finally feeling collected enough to face the rest of her team again, Paige pushed herself off of the door and headed toward the sound of her conversing team just around the corner with her head held high. Just as she was about to turn the corner, however, a familiar blonde-haired woman stepped into view with a worried expression on her face.
Paige came to a quick, surprised halt. "Are you alright?" Sookie asked in a whisper, taking a few steps closer. "Bill said he could hear what you two were saying…he said it didn't sound good."
Paige tried to offer a smile, but in the end it looked a little more like a grimace. "I'm fine." She told Sookie unconvincingly. "Just spilling my heart out like a moron. You know…the usual." She added with a hint of sarcasm, trying to mask how troubled she actually was.
Paige made to brush past Sookie, but the blonde stopped her with a gentle hand on her forearm. "He was livid when Gary said you'd be goin' into the church without the whole team." She revealed, making Paige hesitate unsurely. "He's worried about you and he cares about you, he just doesn't wanna admit it to 'imself, Paige." Sookie tried to convince her, probably in the hopes that it would make Paige feel better. Unfortunately, it didn't.
"Sookie, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I have business to take care of and lives to save." Paige told Sookie, trying not to hurt her feelings. "Once all this is over then maybe we can talk about it…but for now let's pretend like it never happened, alright?" She asked with pleading eyes.
Sookie nodded slowly then let her go by, hesitating for only a second before following Paige as she continued on.
She found Gary and the rest of the team, as well as Bill Compton, loitering around the fire exit at the end of the hall – though none were carrying any large weapons, the sight of the group decked out in camouflage gear, small weaponry, and toting various cases of equipment still would have created quite a stir, so they'd thought it a better decision not to use the elevators or go traipsing through the lobby. They'd be taking a side exit instead, which would lead to a waiting van parked on the side of the hotel.
When Gary and the rest of the team saw her coming towards them, they all straightened up and turned their attention to her. "Everything good?" Gary asked as she came to a halt next to him.
"Depends on what your definition of 'good' is." Paige shot at him – Gary frowned a bit at hearing this. Instead of explaining herself, though, Paige turned to those leaving with her and acknowledged them with an upward nod of her head. "You guys ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, boss." Replied one of the men while the rest nodded their agreement.
"Alright then, let's go." While the rest of the team mobilized and started filing out through the fire exit door, Paige turned to back to Gary and Sookie and offered a small smile. "We'll see you guys tomorrow." She said, nodding first to Sookie, then to Gary. "Call if there's any trouble, okay?"
Gary nodded. "You got it – same goes for you, too." He instructed sternly. Paige also nodded in agreement. "Watch your back out there."
With that Paige waved goodbye to Gary, Sookie, and Bill before trailing after the rest of the team. She hesitated before shutting the door behind her, though, so that she could chance one last look down the hallway – she was hoping that Eric would show up at the last minute, that he would at least come to see her off before she left for the Fellowship, but her hope was in vain. There was no sign of him anywhere. And with one last sigh of resignation, she finally let the door slam closed behind her and left.
A/N: Review!